Let Me In
by Sinclair San Tonava
Summary: A girl with a strange history suddenly shows up in the Sand Village. She knows little about her life, but what she does know is a mirror of Gaara's past. When Gaara refuses to have anything to do with her, she starts a "game" with him. DISCONTINUED
1. The Introduction

**A girl with a mysterious history suddenly shows up in the Sand Village. She knows little about her life, but what little she does know is a Mirror of Gaara's past. She's even an insomniac! Gaara, of course, has no more interest in her than anyone else in the village that he won't kill. She repeatedly comes at him with the intention to touch him- just a hand on the shoulder or something like that. But Gaara, being who he is, will not let her touch him. So she makes a game of it to get to him and befriend him enough to be able to touch him at all. Gaara is dead set against her. But despite her annoying habits and childish way of doing things, he can't seem to hate her... She might just win their "game".  
**

**Well, the start of another fanfic. If you read Neji's Kitten, you can understand what I say when I say that this story will be different. I want to keep Gaara as in character as I can. If I didn't, it would ruin the story. So... yeah. Here it goes. **

**--**

The day had begun like any other for Gaara: boring and drear, uninteresting. He had expected nothing out of the ordinary, and wanted nothing out of the ordinary. But that expectation had been blown away as easily as sand from a roof once _she_ showed up.

He was sitting on the roof of his house; having nothing to do and not wanting to deal with anyone, he had stayed there since the sun had come up. It was early morning and it had not gotten to the hottest point of the day yet. He planned to stay there until it got too hot or until he was interrupted.

Then something caught his attention, and, after a moment, he recognized the sound of shoes walking through sand. He knew

at once that it was no one he knew; no one from Suna moved in such a loud and clumsy way through sand.

Gaara slowly looked down and, as he expected, the person that he saw was no one that he had ever seen.

It was a young girl, about his age, with long bleach-blonde hair that was braided into two braids that reached down to her thighs. Her face was pale and she had green eyes that complimented her soft features nicely. She wore a mesh undershirt that's sleeves stopped a little above her elbow. Over the undershirt she had a light blue short-sleeve shirt that stopped above her belly-button. Her skirt was the same color as her shirt and stopped mid-thigh. Under it, down to an inch below her knees, were mesh leggings. Around her right hand a bandage was wrapped up to her wrist. She wore no ninja headband. She was smiling up at him in a friendly yet curious manner, as if he were an animal on exhibit. "What're you doing?" she asked.

He narrowed his eyes at her, not liking her already. "Minding my own business. You should do the same," he said flatly, and looked away.

The girl's smile faded for a single moment, but then it was back as if it had never disappeared. "My name's Samatari," she said. "What's yours?"

He would have preferred not to answer, but he knew that she would persist if he did not. Without looking at her, he replied solemnly, "Sabaku no Gaara."

Samatari blinked again, as if intrigued. She jumped onto the roof and crouched where she had landed, several feet away from him. "Really? Why do they call you that?" she asked, starring at the back of his head.

His patience was rapidly shortening. He turned toward her, and to his surprise he now saw that she, too, had the thick black rings of insomnia around her eyes. "I love only myself and trust only myself," he replied eerily.

Even as he spoke he could see her eyes searching his face. Far before he finished his explanation, her eyes landed on the kanji on his forehead. And as he finished speaking her eyes lit up. "Lovebug!" she trilled enthusiastically.

The very word made Gaara flinch. His eyes narrowed at her, and the sand in his gourd was swirling around violently. "What?" he growled flatly, confused despite himself.

Samatari smiled toothily, seemingly oblivious to the potential threat on her life sitting only a few feet away. "The symbol on your forehead!" she explained. "It means love! Your name! Demon who loves only yourself! Lovebug!"

She wasn't making any sense, and she was insulting his reputation as far as he was concerned. His sand became more violent, and he was ready to pop the cork off his gourd when she laughed and said:

"It's alright! I have the same symbol!" Then she proceeded to unwrap the bandage from her right hand. As the bandage fell off, she held out her hand for him to see. Just as she had said, she had the exact same symbol on her hand. It took up the entire portion of the back of her right hand, and seemed to be engraved in the same way that his was.

Again, he was confused, despite himself. Never in his life had he seen anything resembling his symbol. His gaze quickly dropped to the roof uninterestedly, as if he did not care at all, which he was trying very hard to do. Several questions flashed through his mind, but he refused to voice any of them.

Samatari smiled and went on as if had anyway. "I put it there when I was seven," she explained, "after somebody died... I can't remember who." She looked at the mark on her hand blankly, as if it were telling her something. Then she looked up at him and smiled. "How'd you get yours?"

But Gaara did not look up and refused to speak.

She cocked her head to one side and took a few steps closer to him. "How'd you get yours, Lovebug?"

All at once, the cork popped off his gourd and sand rocketed out. Before Samatari knew what had happened, she had been uppercut by a wave of sand and sent flying. She landed on the ground on her feet and stared up at Gaara in surprise. Her chin dripped a single drop of blood where she had been hit.

Gaara immediately got up and left, sensing the blood and wanting to get away before he got a lust for it.

Samatari watched him leave without pursuing him. As he disappeared she smirked and wiped the blood from her chin. "This could be fun," she murmured to herself. "Lovebug wants to play, I'll play." She chuckled, jumping onto the roof and retrieving her bandage. She began to rewrap her hand. "Let the games begin."

--

**And here it ends! I'll tell you now, this story will probably move faster and be shorter than Neji's Kitten, because I have it completely planned out. I'm aiming toward about a chapter every week or so, but don't count on it. The more reviews I get, the faster I'll type!  
Note: This is before the Chuunin Exams.**


	2. In The Night

The day passed without Samatari showing up again. Gaara expected that she had been scared her off or that she had heard more about him and gotten smart enough to stay away. Either way, he had not seen her all day, and had convinced himself she was gone.

As the sun set, giving way to a dark, cold night, Gaara sighed and walked down the street, his arms crossed. The few people still on the street quickly got out of his way as he came toward them. He walked until he came to an old building that was going to be condemned; it had been one of his favorite places to go during the night for a while now, and he was not going to be happy when it was gone. But he set that aside for now. Leaning against the building, he tilted his head back and stared at the illuminated sky. It was a half moon cloudless night, and everything was well-lit by the sky.

Suddenly he heard that clumsy walking pattern again. He slowly looked at Samatari as she walked up to him and smiled. "Hey, Lovebug! Guess who I walked into today?" she said. When he did not answer, she crossed her arms and smiled a little wider. "Your sister!" she exclaimed. "She told me all about your sand stuff... among other things."

A growing hatred for Temari was forming in Gaara's mind as she spoke. The sand around his feet began to shift around. He looked at the ground, his eyes narrowing.

Samatari watched the sand for a moment, and then took a step back, putting her hands up in front of her. "Woah, chill out Lovebug, don't get rash now!"

He slowly raised his head and looked at her. The sand settled as his mind went off Temari. "What do you want?" he asked ominously.

She smiled and slowly leaned ageist the wall a good distance from him. "You know, we have a lot in common, you and I. For instance, we're both insomniacs!" She looked at him expectantly, and when he said nothing she went on: "We both have a love kanji that we put there on purpose... I think. We both have pretty shitty pasts, from what I understand of yours, and what I remember of mind and-"

"Where did you come from?" he asked flatly, looking at her impatiently.

Samatari looked back at him and smiled for a moment, then frowned. "I... Don't know," she said at last. "I really don't remember much about my past. All I remember is being ridiculed and feared, and overall treated really bad. I don't even know why. Then all of a sudden I just kind of ended up in the desert within seeing range of this place. I wasn't hurt or anything..." She slowly smiled again, and chuckled almost hollowly. "Weird, huh?"

Again, no answer. He was, however, starring at her blankly, looking partly disgusted at what she was saying.

"Heh... you don't talk much, do you, Lovebug?"

His expression did not change much; he said nothing.

To this she laughed matter-of-factly and looked at the silvery sky with a delighted face. "It's beautiful here! Is the sky always this bright?"

Gaara shook his head. "On some nights the sky is pitch-black."

Then he saw something that he had not yet seen in Samatari's face: complete and utter fear. "Really? It gets that dark?" she asked hesitantly.

The look amused him, but he did not show it. He nodded.

She looked at the ground. "Wow..." But then she shook her head and looked at him again. "So is this what you do every night?" she asked, changing the subject.

He shook his head. "Some nights people die," he replied, as if it were common knowledge.

"I see..." she said slowly, not the least bit scared. "And what else do you do?"

"...What else is there to do?" he asked rhetorically, hoping that such a response would shut her up.

It just got her going again. She smiled toothily and said, "You gotta open your eyes, Lovebug! People like you and me, we see the world like some people rarely do! Stargazing! Have you ever taken a good long look at the sky? And the animals you could see out here! Scorpions that glow in the dark! All the furry things that come out now when the sand's cool! You've never just looked around?"

"No," Gaara replied uninterestedly.

Samatari's face lit up even more than it already was. "We can see them now! Come on!" And she bounded forward, ready to grab his hand and run off with him.

He watched calmly, his arms crossed as a wall of sand shot up in front of her, cutting her off. She collided with the wall and fell backwards with a surprised grunt. At once the sand sunk back to the ground lifelessly and the two stared at each other. Gaara was calm and Samatari, now on the ground, was staring up at him, surprised and a little disoriented.

She shook her head and quickly jumped to her feet, brushing herself off. "You really are something..." she muttered. "You want nothing to do with anything that could possibly be fun, and you push away anyone that you could have fun with-"

"I've already told you, I don't trust people."

She looked at him, crossing her arms. "Well you should. You know, not everyone in this world is going to hate you. If you tried to be a friend-"

"I tried to be a friend, no one accepted me," he said impatiently.

That seemed to catch her off-guard. She stared at him hard for a long moment, as if analyzing his words. "Why didn't they accept you?"

He looked at her calmly, though there was regret in his eyes. "I am a monster..."

Samatari slowly smiled, almost sympathetically. "You're not a monster, Lovebug! Not to me!"

"...Stop calling me that."

Samatari giggled, shook her head, and took a step away from him. "I like Lovebug. It's more positive."

"Hah! Not even you can object to that!"

Sand started to stir around his feet again. Samatari quickly added, "Think of it as a compliment!"

Gaara blinked, giving her a strange look. "A compliment?" he repeated doubtfully.

She smiled and took a step forward. "Uh-huh! I don't think you're a monster like everybody else, so I came up with a nickname for you!"

He considered this. He had never thought of a nickname as a compliment. "... I do not want to be called that," he finally said, looking at her.

She gave him a positive smile. "Oh, come on! ... How about this? I'll only call you Lovebug to your face. Bo one else will ever know about it."

"I do NOT want to be called that," he repeated more forcefully.

She pouted, but remained persistent. "Aww, you're such a killjoy!" she whined, looking at the ground. "Do you ever let anyone be nice to you?"

"No one ever wanted to," he replied simply.

She looked at him as if he were crazy. "I have! Right now! But you won't let me!"

Gaara looked at her, a little surprised. He didn't know what to say, but he didn't want to say anything. This whole conversation felt like de ja vu.

She starred back into his surprised face for a silent minute, before asking quietly," So, can the nickname stay?"

He looked away, unwilling to reply. He was having a hard time comprehending exactly what she was saying, and what she was trying to mean.

But his silence was a yes to her. She slowly smiled, and her triumphant giggle floated through the air. She flashed him a toothy grin, but he did not look up to see it. For a moment she looked as if she wanted to say something, but she just sighed and looked to the sky again. From the corner of her eye, she saw him do the same, and in silence they just stared at the stars. Several minutes passed, and a lone cloud came into view. It gently slid by the stars, and then covered the moon, which caused most of the light to disappear.

As Suna grew dark, Samatari shivered and slid to the ground, her eyes not leaving the stars. "What do you think about... When you see the night sky?" she asked in a dreamy voice, catching Gaara off-guard. In a way, she sounded scared.

He slowly looked at her, and saw how fixated she was on the sky. He looked back up. "Death," he answered just as dazedly. 'And her... Mother...'

She didn't even seem to hear him as she said, "I see the world's record book... Like every star is something huge. And that's what I think about: What this mud ball had to go through to be like it is today." She sighed, and then finished, "It has to be an exciting story."

He thought about that, but it did not sound logical to him. "What's the moon then?" he asked, sounding rhetorical.

She smiled. "It's the biggest event yet!"

And then where was silence. Neither spoke throughout the rest of the night. Each just silently thought of what had gone on, and what was going on. So the rest of the night went peacefully, and when the sun came up, Gaara was gone.

**--**

**Well, I've said it in differen places, but now it's time to say it here: Unless I get some really good ideas, or if someone GIVES me some really good ideas (wink wink, nudge nudge) this is going to be a really short fanfic. Like, three to five chapters short. So PLEASE give me some ideas! My creative juices are really not flowing with this one, but I want to get it done so bad... Review! Review or die!**


End file.
